As Drik as Possible

ASM Rezaur Rahman, Binimoy Printers Ltd., Emad Uddin, Md. Main Uddin, Md. Mostafa Sorower,

Md. Moinul Hassan, Nazmul Hasan, Qumrunnaher Hossain Kali, Rahnuma Ahmed, Reshad Kamal,

Saiful Islam, Shahidul Alam, Shabnam Siddique were involved in the production of this calendar.

Cover Photo: © Pablo Corral Vega.

© Suman Kanti Paul

Drikbashi, the famiy members of Drik, are the people who have kept the torch lit. Their

skill, their passion and their belief in the values of an egalitarian society is the core

strength of the organisation.

A behind the scenes glimpse at a remarkable media phenomenon:

The dot matrix Olivetti printer was noisy. The XT computer came without a

hard drive: two floppy disks uploaded the operating system. When the

electricity went (as it often did), we had to reload it. Our bathroom doubled

as our darkroom. A clunky metal cabinet housed our prints, slides,

negatives and files. Md. Anisur Rahman and Abu Naser Siddique were our

printers; I was photographer, manager, copy editor and part-time janitor.

Cheryle Yin-Lo, an Australian who had read about us in a western

magazine, joined as our librarian. We o�ered and she happily accepted a

local salary.

My partner Rahnuma Ahmed often got roped in when we were

short-sta�ed. That was 25 years ago. Little experience and zero cash rarely

got in the way: we started publishing from day one. Postcards, bookmarks

(often using o�cuts from the press) and even a company calendar were

produced by friendly printers who printed on credit. Residents of

Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, used to seeing flowers, pretty women,

mosques and waterfalls, suddenly woke up to social messages in black and

white on their wall calendars. It worked, and we were able to sell them

door-to-door and pay back the printers – until there was a flood and half

our stock got inundated.

Tired of being pitied for our poverty, and do-gooder attempts to ‘save’ us,

we had decided to become our own storytellers. And did we have stories

to tell! Our agency Drik, grew, and we picked up many loyal friends and

several powerful enemies along the way. Knowing we had to compete

with better-resourced entities in the west, we set up the nation’s first

email network using Fidonet. Banglarights, our human rights portal,

annoyed the government; our telephone lines were switched o� for 30

months. Our exhibitions, political and often critical of the establishment,

got turned down by mainstream galleries, so we built our own. The

government sent riot police to close down our shows on several occasions.

Being stabbed in the street, arrested, and generally persecuted became

some of the more troubling after-e�ects of our activism, but a nationwide

campaign to reopen our gallery, and a court ruling in our favour, convinced

us that the person on the street was on our side. That was all the

ammunition we needed.

Along the way, we had set up a photo school, Pathshala, now recognized as

being among the finest in the world. We also set up a photo festival, Chobi

Mela. Again, a highlight of the Asian cultural calendar. Geed up by what we’d

achieved in Bangladesh, we set our sights on challenging the global world

order. Majority World was born, a platform for local photographers from

Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East with their own stories to tell.

Activism didn’t pay the bills though and competing in the market place,

often with professionals we ourselves had trained, required us to remain

cutting edge. Clients cared less for ‘good intentions’ than they did for good

delivery and value for money. It was comforting therefore when a

prestigious international client, mentioned in the ‘special instruction’

section that she wanted the work to be “As Drik as possible.”

As the organisation grew, we needed better management, stricter

controls, increased e�ciency and lower costs. This led to a culture shift

which didn’t come easily to a group that had grown up like a family and

had gotten used to working in a particular way. Our new CEO reminded us,

that producing the perfect product was gratifying, but getting it to market

on time and within budget, was just as important.

Drik today is a role model for the majority world, but a world that is

changing. Twenty five years ago, it made sense to start from the ground

up. Today we tap into fine professionals we ourselves have groomed, and

take them to the international arena. Long term strategy, succession plans

and a more global vision are the concerns of the day. It’s a lean, agile and

creative organisation run by a younger team, ready for tomorrow.

Drik’s ultimate strength however, has been the people who have rallied

around us. This includes the people who work here, but goes way beyond

it. People, all across the globe, across all conventional barriers, who have

believed in us, and stood by us, in the many di�cult moments we’ve

shared, through many dark nights and days. We owe our very survival to

them. Some we have lost forever. Others have stayed away from the

limelight, happy to bask in our success from afar. While they have never

wanted or expected anything in return, we shall remain indebted to them.

This publication is a tribute to them all.

As

Drik

as

Poss

ible

Shahidul Alam

"Our people are driven by a terrible sense of deficiency. When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught,

and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is

not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money." Alanis Obomsawin.

© Abir Abdullah from his series on climate change

Harnessing the power of photography

*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net

Poet Jasimuddin’s birthday

Convinced that ensuring professional standards in

mainstream media was a prerequisite for building a

democratic and pluralistic environment, Drik undertook

professional training for regional journalists. Working

with Panos South Asia, Drik set up a temporary picture

desk at the leading English Daily, the Daily Star.

Participants from Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and

Bangladesh worked with Sri Lankan photographer

Dominic Sansoni and Dutch picture editor Nicole Robbers

to change the visual approach of Bangladeshi

newspapers. The need for quality photographic training

also led to the formation of Pathshala, the South Asian

Media Institute, now considered one of the finest schools

of photography in the world. Abir Abdullah, was a

student of the first batch in Pathshala.

© Anonymous

History has always been written by the victor and Drik has taken concrete steps to rewrite our distorted

history. While the disasters of the garment industry are well known, the fact that the finest fabric ever

made was the muslin from Bengal, has often been overlooked. Drik has taken on the challenging task of

writing the history of Bengal muslin and reviving a lost craft and heritage. A book, exhibition and film

opening this month, make up the muslin festival organised by Drik.

© Tapash Paul

The past and the present


Poet Jibanananda Das’ birthday

International Mother Language Day

Lessons from the past, are often the

guidebooks to the future. Through

in-depth analysis and rigorous research,

Drik has critiqued and drawn inferences

from the recent political history of the

nation. Through presenting facts and

connecting the dots, the publication

department has brought out numerous

high quality publications that provide

rare insights into the complex

undercurrents and political intrigue that

the nation is immersed in. Author:

Rahnuma Ahmed.

© Shahidul Alam

Drik works with a network of talented photographers who are rooted to their communities. Local culture,

indigenous practice and untold stories are brought to the fore. They enrich a fine collection at the Drik

library, the first photo library in Bangladesh and one of the earliest in the region.

© Naima Perveen

Nurturing the storytellers


Poet Lalon’s Sadhu-Songho

International Women’s Day

Birthday of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

In the analogue days of transparencies and cupboards,

Drik’s librarian Foizun Nessa Begum Shilpi files away

tagged and keyworded images in archival sleeves.

© Abir Abdullah

Photographers from the majority world have refused to become circumscribed by western stereotypes and

have tried to provide a more nuanced, complex and holistic understanding of our cultures. Munem Wasif’s

observations on Islam is informed by his own growing up in a Muslim family that seamlessly embraced

many rites, characteristic of other religions. Part of Wasif’s series “In God We Trust”. Wasif studied at

Pathshala, and worked at DrikNews. He is currently with the agency VU.

© Munem Wasif

Challenging the stereotypes


World Health Day

International Day for theElimination of Child Labour

Bangla New Year

Rana Plaza collapse

Setting up Chobi Mela, the first photo festival in Asia, was

one of the many initiatives of Drik. Aware that galleries are

elitist spaces, the organisation ensured that alongside

high quality seminars and presentations by the worlds’

finest professionals, there would also be events for the

public. Mobile exhibitions of the festival went to football

fields, school grounds, bazaars and other public places,

ensuring no one would be left out of Drik’s events.

© Md. Main Uddin

Breaking news has been the domain of big budget wire agencies. DrikNews challenges this monopoly by

providing news as it happens, through an online delivery system to mainstream media nationally and

internationally. However, it doesn’t restrict itself to ‘big’ news stories defined by mainstream political interest,

but also provides, through its country-wide network of rural correspondents, stories of rural Bangladesh.

© Anonymous

Beyond the headlines


Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam’s birthday

World Mother’s Day

May Day World Press Freedom Day

*Buddha Purnima

*Shab-e-Barat

Poet Rabindranath Tagore’s birthday

Unfettered by party a�liation or corporate control,

DrikNews consistently provides news photographs which

are of public interest regardless of the vested interest of

the power elite.

© Ranak Martin

“I feel like a mermaid. My body tells me that I am a man but my soul tells me that I am a woman. I am like

a flower, a flower that is made of paper. I shall always be loved from a distance, never to be touched and

without a smell to fall in love with.” Heena (52).

© Shahria Sharmeen from her series on transexuals

Humanising the other


Jahanara Imam’s deathanniversary

Santal rebellion (1855)

World Environment Day

Poet Sufia Kamal’s birthday

World Refugee Day

Once, one of the few galleries in the country that would

showcase photography, and still the only one prepared to

directly critique the military or other powerful

establishments, the Drik gallery has inspired others to

follow suit. None more so than Pathshala, originally its

education wing, but now an independent educational

institution. Pathshala maintains Drik’s political

engagement, but has also extended the medium of

photography, particularly in its curatorial approach. 1134:

Lives not numbers was a moving testament to the

garment workers of Rana Plaza who died in a preventable

collapse of a garment factory.

© Farzana Hossen. Curators Munem Wasif and Mahbubur Rahman

In a world obsessed with acquisition, emulating a consumer culture has become the criterion for

development, Drik has looked for other sources of inspiration. The new Ecuadorian constitution enshrines

rights for nature, rather than treating nature as property under the law.

© Pablo Corral Vega

Rights of nature and indigenous communities


*Eid-ul-Fitr *Eid-ul-Fitr *Eid-ul-Fitr*Shab-e-Qadr

Drik has challenged Bangali supremacy. It’s “No More”

campaign has highlighted injustice and repression. It’s

recent show, Kalpana’s Warriors, on the abduction of an

indigenous activist, uses innovative techniques to

produce a unique exhibition that has received

international accolade. The gallery is also known for

showing work which other galleries would not dare

display.

© Habibul Haque

Photographer Vicky Roy explores the uncomfortable relationship that nature shares with man-made

structures that have emerged in pristine Himalayan towns su�ering from unorganised urbanisation. This

massive drive is robbing these Himalayan terrains of their individuality and homogenising the landscape,

leaving behind incomplete houses, worn out machinery and land slide ravaged mountains.

© Vicky Roy

Building peace, questioning development


National Mourning Day

Hiroshima Day (1945)

National Day of Resistance:Violence against Women(Yasmin Day)

International Day of theWorld’s Indigenous People

World Photography Day

International Day for the Remembrance of SlaveTrade and its Abolition

Resistance to Phulbari CoalProject (Phulbari Day)

International Day of theDisappeared

*Janmashtami

Despite its critical stand, Drik has always tried to play a

constructive role in peacebuilding. In 1993, it brought the

prestigious photojournalism exhibition World Press Photo

to Bangladesh for the first time. Utilising Drik’s goodwill

and its non partisanship towards political parties, it invited

the deputy heads of the warring major political parties Dr.

Badruddoza Chowdhury of the BNP (later president of

Bangladesh) and Mr. Abdus Samad Azad of the Awami

League (later, foreign minister), to jointly open the

exhibition. A gesture the parties have never repeated.

© Anonymous

Despite its material limitations, Drik has had the friendship and love of some of the greatest contemporary

minds. Bangladesh’s much loved poet, Sufia Kamal, the founder of the country’s largest women’s

organisation Mohila Porishod, was one of many literary giants who contributed with their writing. Sufia

Khala (as we used to call her) wrote the introduction to Drik’s 1993 Calendar.

© Shahidul Alam

Sheltered by the greats


*Eid-ul-Azha *Eid-ul-Azha*Eid-ul-Azha

Drik Day

Some of the greatest photographers have participated

with Drik through sharing their work, teaching at

Pathshala and as artists in our festival. David Burnett,

president and co-founder of Contact Press Images along

with Robert Pledge, is one the many 'greats' of

photography, whose work was featured in our seminal

exhibition on the war of liberation in 1971 exhibition and

the accompanying film and book. He also participated in

several festivals and lectured at Pathshala.

© Anonymous

Knowing we could not work in isolation, Drik’s photographers responded to humanitarian needs across the

globe. An exhibition of work produced after the 2006 earthquake in Kashmir in Pakistan, produced in

collaboration with the Irish NGO CONCERN, led to fund raising events in Europe, but also a book produced

in English and Urdu, which were distributed in a�ected areas, bringing back the stories of their own lives

to earthquake victims.

© Shahidul Alam

The wider world


Fakir Lalon Shah’s deathanniversary

*Durga Puja *Ashura

Buoyed by the success in Bangladesh, Drik

reached out to other non-western

photographers. An exhibition at the gallery

of the Guardian newspaper in London

demonstrated their quality and in-depth

coverage. The supplement the newspaper

produced provided much needed visibility.

Drik’s “No More” campaign, set up to bring an end to government authoritarianism, began with an exhibition on extra-

judicial killings called “Crossfire”. A conceptual show depicting what those killed in “Crossfire” might have seen in their

dying moments. The show was closed down by riot police, but Drik challenged the government in court, and supported

by the public who protested in the streets, managed to get the show re-opened. The work made it to the front page of

New York Times, was shown in Tate Modern and was used in the covers of Amnesty International and Human Rights

Watch publications. We also noticed a (temporary) decline in killings.

© Shahidul Alam

Ensuring accountability


International Day for theElimination of ViolenceAgainst Women

Nur Hossein Dibosh (1987)

Maulana Bhashani’s deathanniversary (1976)

Tazreen factory fire

After the closure of yet another show at Drik Gallery,

students, photographers and the general public gather at

Dhaka University to form a human chain in protest.

© Wahid Adnan

Social justice has been the core ethos of Drik’s existence. Its belief in people power, central to its being.

After years of military rule, an autocratic general, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, was being removed. The

people celebrated and Drik was there as a witness. 4th December 1990.

© Shahidul Alam

The voice of the people


*Eid-e-Milad-un Nabi

Christmas Day

Pathshala Day

Victory Day

World AIDS Day Chittagong Hill Tracts PeaceAccord (1996)

International Day of Personswith Disabilities

Begum Rokeya’s BirthdayInternational Anti-CorruptionDay

International Human Rights Day

Intellectual Martyrs’ Day

The need to harness technology for the benefit of

everyone was something we appreciated early on. Drik

pioneered the introduction of email to Bangladesh,

spearheading the country’s digital revolution. Founding

directors of Drik, Presidential Award winning scientist

Dr. Kazi Abul Monsur (right) and Rokeya Padak winning

educationist Dr. Quazi Anwara Monsur try out Drik’s o�ine

Fidonet email network.

© Shahidul Alam

DrikHouse 58, Road 15A (New), DhanmondiDhaka 1209, BangladeshTel.: +880-2-9120125, 8141817, 58153087Email: o�[email protected]

Those we have loved and lost

1. Shamsur Rahman 3. Golam Kasem Daddy 4. Sufia Kamal2. Rashid Talukder

6. Aftab Ahmed 8. Azizur Rahim Peu 9. Manzoor Alam Beg7. Naib Uddin Ahmed

13. Mohammad Shafi11. Amanul Haque 14. Nawazesh Ahmed

5. Bijon Sarker

10. Md. Anisur Rahman

15. Wahidul Haque12. Jahanara Imam

Photo credit:K.M. AsadMd. Main UddinMunem WasifNasir Ali MamunShahidul Alam

As Drik as Possible

Art & Photos

Transcript of As Drik as Possible